Historian Jaqui Shine pays a beautiful homage to both her mother and artist Mark Rothko in her meditation about Rothko’s site-specific painting installation named Rothko Chapel. She distills in surprising ways a description about art connecting with the sacred. Rothko’s visual work is so powerful that it spilled inspiration upon a musical work, composer Morton Feldman’s piece for chorus and instruments carrying the same name. I had the privilege of conducting it with Notre Dame Vocale and Ensemble ND at […]

An amazing example of how context and sharing space affect perception is playing out in Wall Street. When Arturo di Modica’s Charging Bull stood alone, it meant something to the passers-by. When Kristen Visbal’s Fearless Girl was placed next to it, now it means something else. The energy is coming from the dialogue between the two statues. But –which of the statues keeps its specific message regardless of the context? Check the article at Artnet.com

A few days ago I tweeted that 10 years ago I argued with skeptic colleagues — as I pursued my own experiments — that interdisciplinary musical works were going to become mainstream. I think this time is here. Sometimes I feel we are again in the 1600s, with the birth of opera, and the Baroque style, and a new way of organizing music. Some will argue that we have a rebirth of the ‘happenings” of the 60s and 70s–but I venture to say […]

2016 was a rich and extraordinary year, full of lessons and insights. I will soon share news about projects with Kosmologia, Notre Dame Vocale and Aguavá New Music Studio. For now, let us revel in friendship and celebration of the promise of 2017!

The South Bend Tribune just published an insightful note about our upcoming performance of “Journeying La Divina Commedia,” an inter-artistic work created by Anton Juan, Robin Kirkpatrick and myself. It includes a new oratorio on the Paradiso by Robert Kyr, original soundscapes by Christopher Preissing, original art by Gwen Terry, original video art by Allison Evans, Hugh Sato and Liviu Pasare, and wonderful choreography by Ayako Kato and Kristina Isabelle, among many other wonderful artists. The image is a rendering of […]

The excellent compilation of music news delivered by the Jacobs School of Music’s Project Jumpstart curated by Alain Barker came today with an intriguing piece by music journalist Craig Havighurst. It is titled “Classical Music Needs a New Name.” Havighurst’s interesting post reminded me that I should finally write into an article the lecture I gave upon receiving the Tracy M. Sonneborn Award at Indiana University in 2010. With some guilt, I will share some of its ideas here. The […]

We have received news of the publication of the first recording of Michael Dellaira’s opera The Death Of Webern, which I had the honor of premiering in New York City in October of 2014 with The Pocket Opera Players. The Death of Webern was directed by Thomas Desi and produced by John Eaton, who also presented his opera Re-Routed. As a project for the Pocket Opera Players, it included not only fully developed vocal roles, but dramatic participation by the […]